Iraq's Oil Pact: Shows Maturing Democracy, But Who Cares?

Imagine in the 1780s if eight of the 13 colonies had massive amounts of a natural resource all the world wanted and would pay dearly for, and the remaining five were dirt poor tracts of dead soil and blowing sand. Do you think every colony would have signed on by 1789?

Doubtful. Lucky for us it wasn't the case, but in Iraq, it is exactly the case as Kurds and Shi'a have oil and Sunnis do not.

Under the national hydrocarbon law, the Shi'a and Kurd factions have agreed that national unity is more important than age-old differences, and have agreed to share revenues with the Sunnis, who brutally suppressed them under Saddam Hussein.

That's pretty mature nation-building for people who are having "democracy foreced on them by Imperialist occupiers," to quote the Left. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad writes in today's WaPo:

Resolving concerns about control of oil is central to overcoming internal divisions in Iraq. The country has the third-largest oil reserves in the world, and more than 90 percent of federal income comes from oil revenue. The effective and equitable management of these resources is critical to economic growth as well as to developing a greater sense of shared purpose among Iraqi communities.

This is the most significant democratization news since Iraq's election, and it's so big it knocked Anna Nicole Smith off her decomposing pedestal as the media swarmed to cover it. Not. A Nexis search for "national (within one word) hydrocarbon (and) Iraq" over the last week yielded exactly three hits: Khalilzad's WaPo piece, his prepared statement and remarks from Barbara Stephenson, State's dep. coordinator for Iraq.

Meanwhile, even though she's dead and even less globally significant that she was while she still walked (stumbled) the Earth, Anna Nicole Smith got 993 Nexis hits.

Worse, a search for "car (within one word) bomb (and) Iraq" yielded 550 hits for the last week.

Do we need any more proof that the media is biased towards bad news on Iraq?

Now, start the count. See how long the Left continues to declare that the War in Iraq is all about Bush getting oil for his Texas oil cronies. They will continue to shout "No blood for oil!" and villify Bush's motives for a long, long time to come. Facts hold no sway with them.

Hat-tip: Real Clear Politics